By Avi Salzman

Asian stocks gave back some of the gains they had added after President Obama’s reelection, with the Hang Seng in Hong Kong falling 2.4% and the Nikkei index off 1.5%.

South Korean company GS Engineering & Construction added to the gloomy atmosphere after reporting that profits fell 74% in its most recent quarter, sending the stock down more than 11%. The news dragged industrial companies in the region lower, as well as the overall MSCI Emerging Markets Index, which fell more than it has in two weeks.

The trade fight between the U.S. and China over solar panels escalated on Wednesday as the U.S. International Trade Commission said illegal dumping by the Chinese had hurt U.S. companies. Expect tariffs soon, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Chinese President Hu Jintao told the country’s next leaders that corruption threatens the state and the party, Reuters reported. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves: “We will never copy a Western political system,” he added.

BusinessWeek has a roundup of the foreign press’ reaction to the Obama victory.

About Emerging Markets Daily

Emerging markets have been synonymous with growth, but the outlook for individual nations is constantly changing. Countries from Brazil and Russia to Turkey face challenges including infrastructure bottlenecks, credit issues and political shifts. Barrons.com’s Emerging Markets Daily blog analyzes news, data and research out of emerging markets beyond Asia to help readers navigate the investment landscape.

Barron’s veteran Dimitra DeFotis has been blogging about emerging market investing since traveling to India and Turkey. Based in New York, she previously wrote for Barron’s about U.S. equity investing, including cover stories and roundtables on energy themes. Dimitra was among the first digital journalists at the Chicago Tribune and started her career as a police reporter at the Daily Herald in the Chicago suburbs. Dimitra holds degrees from the University of Illinois and Columbia University, where she was a Knight-Bagehot Fellow in the business and journalism schools. She studies multiple languages and photography.